HEBREW WORD STUDY – APPROACHABLE –  QARUV   קרוב   

Isaiah 55:6: “Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon Him while He is near.”

It used to be and still is a custom in many churches that when the Sunday morning service ends everyone goes outside and forms little groups to just talk.  In all those many Sundays I do not recall one conversation over the sermon that was preached or one conversation on one’s struggle with their Christian walk or even a discussion on some Scripture passage. It was all about the Yankees winning the Super Bowl or something like that.  After listening to a sermon from a Godly pastor I was usually fired up to discuss it or even joy a small group in prayer and with this enthusiasm, I would be able to overcome my Aspieism and join a conversation. I wondered why no one gave much thought to God after hearing the Word of God expounded. 

One time, however, someone did approach me and say; “That sermon today, it was great, I feel like praying do you want to join me?”  I remember walking back into that empty sanctuary and wondering why after such a great sermon no one else was in there to pray, even the pastor was no longer there.  This new friend and I prayed after every service for the next few weeks until he moved away and I was too insecure to pray alone in that sanctuary.  But I marveled at how close I felt to the Lord during that time of prayer, it seemed so special after an hour of worship and listening to the Word of God being spoken. Isaiah 55:6 keeps coming to my mind as I recall those weeks of after service prayer, “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.” I was always told this was for the sinner, God’s Spirit will not always strive with man and if you keep rejecting Him, He will no longer be near and you will not find Him. Perhaps that is true.   But that is not the context.

In this context, the word for seek is daresh which has the idea of visiting frequently more than trying to find something.  The words while He may be found is really something special in the Hebrew.  While He may be found is all one word: behimase’u. We can really play around with this word and not always come up with the standard translation.   This is a Niphal infinitive.  It has the idea of obtaining or finding knowledge. The infinitive form would suggest an overwhelming or abundance of knowledge can be found. After a pastor has spent many hours studying and praying over their half-hour sermon filled with an abundance of knowledge what do Christians do after receiving it, they just walk out the door and begin to discuss who is quarterbacking for the New York Yankees.  

We are to call upon him while he is near. The word translated for upon is simply an inseparable pronoun expressed as prefix Beth which means in or on. Sure we could say call on him, but grammatically, to say that we would really use the separable pronoun, al.   I say we translate it, Call in Him.  The word call is qara’ which has two meanings.  One is to call or shout.  Another is to fall into.  I like the idea of falling into him. I think that speaks more of God’s heart.  Fall into him while He is near.  The word near is qarav.  This word is very closely related to qara which is another reason I chose to translate the word qara as fall into rather than call because it is making an obvious play on the word qarav which means to approach, be approachable and/or vulnerable. I would render this as fall into His heart when He is approachable or vulnerable. Worship, praise and hearing the Word of God is like a husband sharing a candlelit dinner with his wife, they speak lovingly to each other and they express the inner secrets of their hearts to each other. They even touch each other.  Then when they have expressed their love for each other, holding each other close, the husband looks at his watch and says: “Oh my, it’s 12:00 I am missing the big game, he then runs over and turns on the TV.  Of course, it doesn’t make sense, there would be a rush for a deeper intimacy. It is sort of the way I feel after a wonderful service, I just want to get alone with God for a deeper intimacy because I am just qara’ falling into Jesus after that service. That for me is really a time to call upon while He is near.  But maybe that is just me, I am just a lonely old Aspie, maybe I am just compensating.